Day 5 12 Apostles to Apollo Bay 100km

This day was the big one, not a flat 100km like yesterday but a hilly 100km over Lavers Hill then 60 km/hr down around the curve of Castle Cove.  My hands have survived ok but trying to control the bike whilst screaming down there was an effort.  Then we had the endless rolling hill climbs across the Otways to get out of the Aire Valley and down to Apollo Bay. The school pelotons can be disconcerting. For instance you may get a 10 year old who announces with a cheery hello that she is the lead on 10 following riders from Surf Coast College and have a nice day.  All this while we a struggling up hill and that group have disappeared around the next bend in less than a minute.

What do you think Boys?

Great Ocean Camping

Day 4 MortLake to 12 Apostles - 100km

Rode past an old volcano today. This one has no cinder cone as such, just a big round flat hole.  Last night we visited two pubs, the bakery and the bowling club, spending about $50 each. So that is around $200,000 plus into the town in one day.  The guy in the bowling club reckons they will make an entire years income in one day. There are numerous hazards along the way, Roos, pot holes, other riders and electric fences. We hit the coast today and are camped in a field near the 12 apostles. We arrived around 2:00pm and there was time to catch the bus to Loch Ard Gorge.  This seems to Asian tourist heaven these days.

How easy

Lake Kellambete

Rocks

Day 3 Dunkeld to Mortlake - 89km

My legs are holding up so far. The sunrise from our field on Mt Abrupt was illuminating.  And why are we up that early, because we are camped in the Dome section and the Dome Mother is on patrol. She removes all the pegs from the tents at 6:00 am. That is hint number 1. They have to take down 500 tents, transport them over a hundred km and then put them all up before 2:00pm.

Mt Abrupt

Mt Sturgeon

Day2 Halls Gap to Dunkeld 72km

It doesn't matter how slow you go you will always pass someone and likewise it doesn't matter how fast you go you will always get passed.  The first day we followed the Grampians from one end to the other.  This time around there are 4200 riders, which means the queues are much shorter for showers and toilets. There was one 500m hill to climb. Camping is easier when they put up the tent for you, not to mention supplying all the meals.

The Bar opens first

On the Road

Halls Gap Day 2

The crowds have all arrived today. They arrived by bus and the bikes came by cattle truck.  The cows were moved out and replaced by hundreds of bikes.  We had lunch at the Venus Bath which was only a 1km walk from our cabin. But we had the loudest cicada orchestra ever probably because they have been underground for 10 years. Tea was at Kookaburra Pub loading up with spaghetti and prawns.

Venus Bath

Horned Bicycle

De Horned Bicycles

Halls Gap Camp

We haven't tried it yet but the camp organisation looks to be improved from 12 years ago. We had a 3hr drive in Hostyle's new Subaru Forester with a stop at Beaufort for lunch. We are at the Halls Gap caravan park and the kangaroos are everywhere.

Tent City

The Slot in the Dock

Sounds like a Dr Seuss book.  I have been on the phone for the last week fixing things for the new laptop. It is working reasonably although when it comes out of sleep mode occasionally there is a screen issue so I have to disengage from the dock then as Picard would say, engage. 

Ding Dong Dell

My laptop is not well

I press it in the slot

But I have to press a lot

Flicker screens do try us

So just update the BIOS

My dock now needs a spacer

And the delivery man's no racer

Waiting is a peeve

It'll be here on Christmas Eve 

The space between the slot and the slider needs filling

Gearing Up GVBR 2016

It was 2004 that I last did this ride.  A can of Bourbon was $5. I predict it will be $10 this time around. It should be a lot less crowded, as back then there were no limits on participation and around 9000 riders and 1000 volunteers were moving across the countryside like a swarm. I believe a limit of 5000 riders was imposed after that. I have rented a tent but stuff expands to fill the space available. If I ever do this again then the list is here. Total weight 17 kgs.

On Board

pump

water bottle

water bladder

tubes x 2

patch kit

sunblock

sunglasses

glasses

rash cream

arthritis pills

asthma spray

trip computer

swimmers

purse - cash/credit cards/keys

camera

phone

helmet with folding cap

gloves

knicks

shirt

coat

spray jacket

socks

shoes

In Duffel

fuel rods x 4 with cables

computer with charger

double adapter

phone charger

camera cables

headlight with spare batteries

paperwork

book

mattress

sleeping bag

sleeping sheet

chair
cutlery,plate,mug

small backpack

umbrella 

toilet kit

towel

swimmers

thongs

runners

japara jacket

hoodie

long johns

tracksuit pants

socks x 5

underwear x 5

knicks

bike shirt

shorts x 2
shirts x 2

spare tube

spare patch kit

pad locks x 2

Grand Dining tent 2004

The Dry

Buying a book that turns out to be a debut novel by a new author is most likely a fluke although I did do it one other time with "The Wind Up Girl" but that was a Hugo and Nebula award winner, even rarer. This one by Jane Harper uses a dual story approach where one thread runs 20 years in the past parallel to the story in the present.  It is a whodunit right in our own backyard but I think the drought she describes is not that bad at the moment.

A 5 hour drive from Melbourne

Post Master General

As well as delivering the mail and printing postage stamps, the PMG also looked after the Telegraphic services, which meant they needed lots of poles for lots of wires and lots more insulators. That's where the Roberts' of Lake Tyers came into it with their Glass Works and a contract to make thousands of insulators.  The one below has come back to the family via Noel.  This is now one of the rarest glass objects in Australia. It was exhibited around Australia in the last year and won several first place prizes for historic record. Three Roberts brothers working the glass furnace each had a mold slightly different in the depiction of the G.

Glass Collection

Whose G was this?

Horsing Around

We have seen a lot on the beach but this is the first time a horse has trotted past. Late last century there were thousands of people in the dunes watching the annual Ocean Grove Cup Carnival, until it was banned. We are always complaining about dog shite on the beach. Who cleans up horse shite?  At least our spot was comfortable as we nestled among hundreds of blue bottle carcasses forming a nice cushion.

Lone Horseman 2016

First Race 1995 - Last Race 2001

Indulge - 48km

The bicycle practice continues with a 48km round trip via Port Arlington. The strategy on the GVBR will be to have a stop about every 25 km. This may or may not coincide with an organised wayside stop. I remember last time  (12 yar back) there being enormous water bladders on the side of the road. We had an early lunch at the Indulge cafe in Port Arlington. The outside deck there has a great view of the Port activity.

Friday Fish

30°

We drove down Ocean Grove because we were  promised 30°.  Last year there were 8 days over 30° before the 17th Nov.  This was a big day starting out with a 50 km ride to Torquay  and back.  Before that there was 2 hours of skype meetings in Canada. After the ride  we did get over to the beach from about 1:00pm until 6:00pm. We have just finished our barbie and Debbie is completely asleep on the couch.

Beach Colouring

Twelfth Night

I was on a roll so I read the other play I studied. Shakespeare was commissioned to write something riotous to match the celebrations happening on the 12th day of Christmas in 1601.  The plays are short enough to read but deciphering the language is the trick.  I wanted to find the Act and Scene that the drama group I was in, put onto the stage. I remembered most of the story.
Brendon played Sir Toby Belch, how prophetic. Also Paul Ryan was Malvolio and Kevin Morgan played Sir Andrew. I can't remember who was Fabian.  This play is a complicated thing, with twins in the plot and the female disguising herself as the male, amongst various other doings.  I read the whole play but could not find the scene we did.  I started comparing my book copy with one on the internet and found that two pages were missing in my copy!  The exact pages that we had acted out. So I think one of these guys above took my pages, maybe on stage with them as a reminder and I'm discovering this 45 yar later.  I think the most famous quote from this one would be-

Some are born great, 

Some achieve greatness and 

Some have greatness thrown upon them

In our play the rascals were behind a hedge, not a wall

Something Wicked this way comes

In following up the previous reference by Steinbeck from Macbeth, I dug out another school book, being Shakespeare's complete works and I read through the Macbeth play. For some reason as a schoolboy, we spent a whole term on just a few acts of Twelfth Night and also Macbeth, yet now I can read it in two hours. There is much murder and mayhem but the witches chant is the best.

Double double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

So the "something wicked" was Macbeth but he got his in the end.

Hecate's disciples

How goes the Night?

The Moon is Down.  If you are going to blow up train tracks during the night then new moon nights would be a good start.  I studied this book in school but I never new Steinbeck wrote this as a propaganda tool to inspire occupied European towns and was first published by the French resistance in 1942.  I can tell it was a school book as my name is written in it on five different pages. We are off to see some of these French resistance towns, like Bayeux, next year.

Engagements and Birthdays

These don't coincide too often but a birthday is as good a time to announce an engagement and Laura and Rick have come back from Fiji with a Tiffany's souvenir featuring the five Cs Cut Clarity Colour Carat and Cucumber.  This will be news as people come through the door.

The Cucumber Ring

 

Accountants and other killers

My real accountant just told me the Tax return money I was getting back is a mistake. I should sic Ben Affleck onto him. When he finds a mistake then payback is made with bullets. As far as the film goes, I've seen it all before, either Matt Damon or Arnie Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis go after the bad guys knocking them all off against the odds.  I'd wait for the TV version.

never heard of a computer

Blue Oyster Cult

I have a few Blue Oyster Cult songs on my laptop from back in the day.  Their lyrics were always a mystery.  This band never got the attention say, that Led Zeppelin did. Hence there were endless debates about what exactly was a "Bustle in your hedgerow". In the case of BOC there was no classroom chatter about "The Mistress of the Salmon Salt".  In the early 1970's, radio chat shows were the only forum and BOC did not get a mention. So has JK Rowling tried to rebalance this nearly 50 years later?  As far as the "Career of Evil" goes, I did like the waxing lyrical but I preferred the previous two books, this one is just another crazy serial killer.

Usain

Went for a ride into the city the longer way around the Yarra. OK it was a sunny day but doesn't anybody work? The barbies along the Yarra are busy, as are the restaurants along South Bank. We stopped at Pimms for lunch and just down the way, the man was part of the Nitro Athletics launch. This must be Melbourne's answer to the European Gold Athletic Meets. The ride was 43 km connecting Merri Ck, Yarra River and Maribyrnong River.

Pimm's

Usain "Nitro" Bolt

Lattitude E5570

Yes this is the first post originating from my newest Dell laptop. The previous one was nearly 5 years old and as usual what a difference 5 years makes.  Most of the major specs are similar, CPU speed, RAM and Disk space however this one has no DVD player and no WiFi network on/off switch. It is a sign of network streaming, wireless connectivity and the always present internet that driver DVD's don't come with devices any more you just download them.

Roswheel Bag

This bag was bought over the internet from Hong Kong. Tracking showed it went to Singapore two days later. OK only the last leg to go but then it went to Switzerland!  That was 5 weeks ago.  After many emails a second bag was sent which arrived today. Scrutiny of the dates may suggest this was the original bag.  I have suspended it in the centre space of the TriBar which was not the design but seems to work quite well.

Landlord's to Account

A few times over the years we have had some issues in the front yard. We have always had a fence but there has been no gate. Numerous plants have disappeared and the worst one was a $100 statue that was taken despite its heavy concrete weight.  Early on our letterbox also encased in concrete, went missing and we found it over the road, a few doors down. So hypothetically, say the tenants across the way had damaged the letterbox and threw it in the street. To my mind this has nothing to do with the landlord. Has the proliferation of bodies corporate influenced this in some way?

Postman's challenge